


It’s Always You Two (Need You More Than Oxygen)

by tog



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame, F/M, Gen, Hallucinations, Inspired by a Trailer, Oxygen Deprivation, Pepperony's Love Stretches Across the Universe, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Lives, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, iron dad and spider-son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 03:25:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16905204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tog/pseuds/tog
Summary: Food and water ran out four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning...Tony Stark is living out his worst fear: he’s separated from the Avengers, lost in space, and still recovering from the traumatic turn of events on Titan. As he runs out of oxygen, he remembers two important people in the face of what looks like his certain death.Based on the Avengers: Endgame trailer





	It’s Always You Two (Need You More Than Oxygen)

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired solely by the shots of Tony reaching out for the Ironman helmet in the new Avengers: Endgame trailer. 
> 
> @ Marvel: STOP EXPOSING TONY TO HIS WORST FEARS. GIVE THE MAN A BREAK (and a supportive, loving family aka Pepper and Peter)

“...and that’ll be it.” he leans forward and takes another breath in, his ribs expanding but his lungs barely filling with oxygen.

“When I drift off, I will dream about you,” he gently taps the helmet, and he aches for soft skin and freckles and crow’s feet that he adores but she hates when she smiles and tells him to stop poking at her—

He clenches his fist twice, 

“It’s always you.” he exhales. 

He reaches forward to switch off the helmet and lets his hands linger for a few minutes. He absentmindedly rubs a finger over the brow of the helmet, a lame substitute for the face he wishes were cupped in his hands. 

He leans back and tries to keep his breathing at a regular pace. It’s not the lack of oxygen that’s killing him more so than the CO2 filling the ship. It takes the majority of his concentration to keep his breathing and anxiety under control, along with fighting his exhaustion so he doesn’t fall asleep (fall unconscious and  _die_ ), the ever growing headache wrapped around his skull making it impossibly harder to do all these things at once. And it’s vital, crucial, a matter of life and death. If he wants to survive as long as possible, he must do these things. He has to. Tony Stark does not back down from a fight, even if that fight is against Death itself.

And yet, 

And yet, in this moment, survival isn’t as important as letting his mind drift to the ones he loves. He doesn’t have to do the math to know that recording a message that will never be received is a waste of precious air and mental power. But that’s not the point. Pepper knows that he loves her. He knows that Pepper knows that. The message is a perfectly formulated goodbye note, but he didn’t record it to serve that purpose. In his final moments, Tony refuses to be surrounded by fear. Physically, he is in the middle of his worst nightmare, one that is all too similar to the nightmare (the vision, his  _prophecy_ ) that led to Ultron, but there’s nothing he can do about that. And that acceptance is what allows him to stare into the dark expanse of space without falling into a panic. He won’t let his mind (his greatest  _weapon_ , his greatest  _tool_ ) be turned against him. He looks his greatest fear in the eyes and allows himself to think of the greatest comfort in his life, and states his love for Pepper. And that’s what it is. A statement.

 

( _Proof that Tony Stark has a heart._ ) 

( _She was always perfect._ )

( _I’ve been trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. And then I realized,_ ** _it’s you_.**)

( _I have to protect the one thing I can’t live without._ ** _That’s you_.**)

( _I_ ** _t’s always you_.**) 

 

A part of him knows that his message won’t ever be received because he’s stuck in the middle of space with no way to reach Earth. A smaller, darker, ugly part of him thinks it’s because he doesn’t even know if she’s alive, if she was dusted away just like—

“Peter?”

Tony is frozen for a second, staring at the spot where his helmet was sitting, an all too familiar sight of metallic red, blue, and gold laying in its place. His vision tunnels and his blood rushes straight to his head, pounding hard in his ears, and he’s suddenly back on Titan, watching the kid ( _his mentee, his responsibility, **his kid**_ ) turn to dust in his hands.

 

( _Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good._ )

( _This is a one-way ticket_.)

( _I don't know what's happening, I don't know-_ )

( _And if you died..._ )

( _I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, please_...)  

( _I feel like that's on me_ )

( _I'm sorry_ )

 

But when the figure’s chest expands without a trace of ash disintegrating off him, Tony is ripped from the flashback and rushes forward to cup the back of Peter’s head off the ground.  The solid weight pressed into the crook of his neck has him releasing a sob— a loud, ugly, broken,  _relieved_  sob— and he lifts the kid with his remaining strength until they’re kneeling in front of each other. Peter hugs him tightly and collapses into him, arm wrapped around Tony’s waist, head buried close to his housing unit for his nanotech. His super strength makes it difficult for Tony to suck in a breath of air, but he hugs back just as tight. He lets his tears fall into Peter’s curly hair and reluctantly pulls him back a few inches so he can look him in the eyes.

“Mr. Stark, I’m—”

“Kid,” his throat burns, but he croaks out, “God, I thought- I watched you,” his left hand shakes as it moves from the back of his head to cup his face. Peter closes his eyes, an equally relieved look on his face. And he looks so  _young_  that it makes Tony’s heart pump wildly against his chest with guilt.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault. If I had just,” if he had just never recruited the 14-year-old spiderling from Queens, if he had just tried harder to explain things to Cap, if he had just done something  _right_  for once.

“Mr. Stark, this isn’t your fault.” Peter pauses until Tony finally meets his eyes, “None of this is your fault.” he says more fiercely than Tony would ever expect out of a kid his age. And there’s something about the kid, something that makes Tony believe him, so he gives a small nod before Peter is the one dragging him into another hug.

“Your Aunt is gonna kill me.” Tony mumbles into the kid’s hair. Peter huffs out a small laugh,

“I hope she’s alright,” his smile wobbles with guilt, “She already worries so much. Do you think she knows I’m here? Or...”

“Hey, I’m going to get you back,” Tony wheezes out, more determined than ever, “and then we’re gonna face May’s wrath together, and let her stuff us with walnut and date loaf until she forgives us. I  _promise_  you.” Tony holds Peter’s face in his hands, and swipes a thumb under Peter’s eye where tears have started to silently flow. Peter offers him a watery smile and it’s a sight that instantly makes his heart swell with a feeling he’s only recently discovered himself.

A feeling that filled him every time he thought about his life, his  _future_ , with Pepper ( _Last night I dreamt. We had a kid_ ).

“Stark.”

A feeling he so desperately wanted, needed, Howard to feel ( _So real. I had a dream about it_ ) ( _That’s not a hug, I’m just grabbing the door for you._ )

“Stark.”

A paternal feeling that combined with Pepper’s love, completed him ( _I had a dream about it_ ).

“Tony!”

A robotic hand on his shoulder make his eyes fly open. His hands instinctively draw Peter in and he curls around him to protect him from whatever threat has managed to sneak up on him. But when Tony looks down, all he sees is his helmet between his hands, pressed against his chest.

“Peter?” ( _ **It was so real**._)

“Where’s Peter?” he drops the helmet and tries to stand up to search for the kid. He couldn’t have gone far, he was  _right here_.

“Who, Quill?” Tony shakes his head in frustration and tries to push the blue cyborg woman away, but only ends up stumbling into her arms.

“My Peter. Underoos. He was just right here.” he means to say, but he barely sucks in enough oxygen to keep himself from passing out.

“Stark, you’re going to kill yourself before the lack of oxygen does. Now sit down!” The blue woman- Nebula, he thinks- orders him.

But he can’t, because Peter needs him and he was _**right here**_ , and he  _promised_  him he would get him home, and he’s confused because did he pass out? He couldn’t have because Peter was  _ **right here**_ , right where the helmet was, but  _ **Peter**_ —

 

( _ **It was so real**._)

 

Tony collapses to the ground and hugs the helmet close to his chest, letting out a choked, dry sob. His dehydrated body doesn’t create tears to lubricate the pain he feels. Instead, he’s an exposed raw nerve on the ground, and he expects Nebula, who has only expressed anger or indifference in their weeks together, to mock or even reprimand him for wasting precious oxygen on unnecessary emotions.

But. Nebula takes a seat next to him on the floor, staring out at the stars. She doesn’t bother with comforting words or gestures, doesn’t even comment on his sudden outpouring of emotions, but instead sits in the silence and only speaks when Tony’s body stops shaking from the sobs.

“You can’t fall asleep again,” she says. It’s direct, and he expects nothing less from her. But her tone is softer, still metallic-y, but  _soft_. “You promised Peter. And I promised Gamora.” Nebula tenses as she mentions the other woman’s name, but Tony can see, can feel the guilt, mourning, pain,  _love_.

“We have family to avenge, Stark. We can die later.”

Tony nods and swipes a thumb over the Ironman helmet, Peter and Pepper at the forefront of his mind.

_**It was so real.** _

_**It’s always you.** _

**Author's Note:**

> catch me on tumblr [[here]](http://www.toggot.tumblr.com)


End file.
